Mission

Green Living & Energy Education (GLEE) is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization created for educating individuals, businesses and policymakers within the Florida Keys community to promote sustainable actions through waste reduction, efficient and renewable energy, and the conservation of water and land resources.

GLEE News

Save-the-Date! 2017 GLEE Annual meeting , Monday June 19, 5.30-7.30p.

Florida Keys Green Living and Energy Education’s annual meeting will beheld on Monday June 19, 5.30-7.30p at The Hammocks at Marathon, located at 1688 Overseas Highway, Mile Marker 48, Marathon, FL 33050. The Hammocks is a two Palm certified Green lodging hotel. Free & Open to the public, people can meet and socialize with others interested in Keys environmental issues and hear from invited speakers talk about their sustainability programs, work and future plans. More speaker details will be available soon.

Socialize and connect with others who are interested in topics related to sustainability and green living. Listen to April’s speakers which will cover topics ranging from Solar Basics, Florida Disposable Plastic Bag legislation, Community Gardens to Recycling news from City Of Key West and current projects at Florida Keys Community College.

Meet and greet starts at 5.30p with complimentary nibbles and cash bar.

The speaker session will begin at 6 p.m. Opportunities for questions and discussions with our speakers will be available.

This month’s topic is Backyard Gardening in a Subtropical Paradise, featuring information on tropical fruit, vegetable gardening and composting. At 5 p.m., join the tour of this historic botanical site led by Grimal Grove Director Patrick Garvey, followed by a meet and greet with complimentary nibbles and beverages by donation.

The speaker session will begin at 6 p.m. Speakers include Garvey who will present a brief history of the Grimal Grove site and an update on upcoming plans and events there; successful backyard gardeners Tammy and John Germain, owners of Lower Keys Electric, Inc. who live and garden in Ramrod Key; and Kim Gabel, Environmental horticulture agent for the UF/IFAS Monroe County Extension Agency. Opportunities for questions and discussions with our speakers will be available.

Florida Keys Green Living and Energy Education kicks off its 2017 Speaker Series and Meet & Greet events with the first meeting on Monday January 9th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm at The Hammocks at Marathon. The Hammocks is a two Palm certified Green lodging hotel. There will be two speakers who will talk about SOLAR & Sustainability:

1) Lisa Kaul – SALT (Sea, Air, Land Technologies) in Marathon. SALT provides state-of the art Solar Power Systems tailored to meet the specific lifestyle of residential and business clients Their passion is sustainable living practices.

2) John Kocol – Island Hammock Pet Hospital in Tavernier – featuring the largest array of solar panels in the Upper Keys (and second largest in the entire Florida Keys) that powers hospital operations. The hospital has also implemented many sustainability initiatives.

GLEE Annual meeting 2016, Thursday May 12, 5.30-7.30p.

Florida Keys Green Living and Energy Education’s annual meeting was held on Thursday, May 12, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Shrimp Road Bar & Grill, 7009 Shrimp Road, Stock Island. Free & Open to the public, people met others interested in Keys’ environmental issues and heard from invited speakers talk about their sustainability programs, work and future plans.

Invited speakers come from all sections of the community and included:

Looking for volunteers in the Islamorada/Tavernier area

The Village of Islamorada has launched a Got Your Bags? Florida Keys campaign and is looking for people to join their group of volunteers to help spread the message and help reduce disposable plastic bag usage in the community. Plastic bags can easily become litter and marine debris, spoiling the community and harming wildlife. For more information please contact Mary Swaney, Assistant Village Manager/Public Information Officer, Islamorada, Village of Islands, 305-664-6411, mary.swaney@islamorada.fl.us

Pick up a complimentary bag, at our table, pledge to use fewer disposable bags, take advantage of Winn Dixie’s BOGO on store bags, find out more about our program, help us out if you have time, donate… support us.

If this catches on with the other Winn Dixie stores throughout the Keys and other grocery chains, it has the potential to reduce millions of plastic bags in the Keys. Read the press release for more info.

Do some shopping for a good cause

Doing a spot of shopping on Amazon? If so, it’s easy to donate to GLEE using Amazon Smile at no cost to the shopper! The Amazon Smile Foundation donates 0.5 percent of the amount of the goods purchased to the nonprofit chosen by the shopper. It’s the same Amazon website, no extra cost to you, just a different way to access Amazon. Please give it a try here. We appreciate all donations.

Fall 2014 Newsletter

Monroe County Recycling

Key West Film Festival

For past 2 years “Got Your Bags? Florida Keys,” a program of Florida Keys Green Living and Energy Education, has been in partnership with the Key West Film Festival. In 2014 the KWFF showed a free film called No Impact Man, open to the public, at the Tropic Cinema .

A GLEE & Got Your Bags? Florida Key exhibit table was set up at the Tropic to accompany the movie with opportunities to meet members of GLEE and the Got Your Bags? Group and pick up a free reusable shopping bag compliments of the Key West Film Festival during this time. Read more details here.

In 2016, the KWFF plans to partner again with GLEE to produce a sustainability-conscious film festival and feature a line-up of environmentally-conscious movies. More details coming.